Rickwood Field, nestled in the Fairview neighborhood of the western part of Birmingham, Alabama, is the oldest ballpark in the country. Yes, it’s even older than Fenway Park in Boston, Massachusetts. But that’s just one of the many reasons that both history buffs and baseball fanatics should visit this national treasure.
Since 1910, more than 180 Baseball Hall of Famers have played at Rickwood Field, including household names like Babe Ruth, Mickey Mantle, and Yogi Berra, as well as legends like Willie Mays, Reggie Jackson, and Satchel Paige — to name a few.
Birmingham is considered by many to be the cradle of the civil rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s. People come to the city to visit the 16th Street Baptist Church, where four little girls were killed in a 1963 bombing by the Ku Klux Klan. They walk through Kelly Ingram Park, where many civil rights protests and demonstrations took place. And they tour the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute to learn more about the leaders and everyday people who fought against the oppression of segregation.
But Rickwood Field is part of Birmingham’s civil rights story, too. Not only is Rickwood the oldest baseball park in America, but it is also the oldest remaining park that was home to a Negro League ballclub — the Birmingham Black Barons. Made up of players from local industrial leagues, the Black Barons rented Rickwood Field on Sundays when the Birmingham Barons were on the road. The Black Barons played at Rickwood Field from 1920 until the early 1960s.
The History of Rickwood Field
Industrialist A.H. “Rick” Woodward built Rickwood Field to serve as a home for his minor league baseball team — the Birmingham Barons. Modeled primarily after Forbes Field in Pittsburgh, the park opened on Augst 18, 1910, and Barons fans saw their beloved team beat the Montgomery Climbers. Two years later, the Barons won their first league championship at Rickwood. The Barons snagged the championship trophy in 1914 and 1915, too.
Believe it or not, Birmingham was a baseball town once upon a time. As baseball became the national pastime, Birmingham was wild for the sport. In the early years of Rickwood Field, the park boasted standing-room-only crowds, filling the seats and bleachers and packing into the areas around the fences.
In 1919, the Negro Southern League team, the Birmingham Black Barons (originally the Birmingham Stars), was formed. The team was playing at Rickwood Field every other Sunday by 1920. The crowds for Black Barons games were always large — and always segregated. Despite playing amid the oppression of the Jim Crow South, the Black Barons excelled and earned spots in national Negro Leagues that are now regarded as major league caliber.
Meanwhile, Rickwood became Birmingham’s premier sporting venue, hosting not only minor league baseball games but also college and high school football. The University of Alabama and Auburn University both held games at Rickwood.
Eventually, Rickwood Field had to be expanded to accommodate the overflowing crowds, but by the 1960s, Birmingham’s baseball diamond began to lose its sparkle.
As with most Negro Leagues teams, Birmingham’s attendance dwindled as top players left for the American and National League. In the early 1960s, the Black Barons played their final game at Rickwood Field. The park would soon lose the Birmingham Barons, too.
In November 1961, Major League Baseball mandated that all minor leagues be integrated by 1962, including the Southern Association, of which the Birmingham Barons was a part. Birmingham residents who supported segregation pressured Barons Owner Albert Belcher to fold the team rather than allow Black athletes to play for it.
The Barons eventually returned and, in 1964, became the first integrated professional team to play in Birmingham.
In 1987, the Barons left Rickwood for the Hoover Met, a shiny new baseball park in a suburb south of Birmingham. In 2013, the Barons returned to the Birmingham city limits and have since called Regions Field home. But when the Barons left Rickwood in the late 1980s, the field was vacant. Fortunately, the Birmingham Park Board took over and leased the facility to the Birmingham Board of Education Athletics Department. Rickwood became the home of high school and middle school baseball and football games.
In 1992, the Friends of Rickwood Field was formed, and this organization began a master plan to breathe new life into the ballpark. A year later, Rickwood was listed on the National Register of Historic Places. A year after that, Rickwood made its way to the big screen. The ballpark was featured in the movie Cobb, starring Tommy Lee Jones.
In 1996, Rickwood appeared in the television film The Soul of the Game, which portrayed life in the Negro Leagues. Rickwood’s most significant movie moment came in 2013, with the Jackie Robinson biopic 42 starring Chadwick Bozeman.
Rickwood Field Makes it to the Big Leagues
Rickwood Field kicked off the summer of 2024 in a major way. On June 20, the ballpark hosted a Major League Baseball game for the first time. Years in the making, this event required millions of dollars of renovations. The City of Birmingham invested $4.6 million for construction and repairs. Making the most of the opportunity, the team at Rickwood created a three-day extravaganza to honor the Negro Leagues.
On June 18, fans were treated to a Minor League Baseball game featuring the Birmingham Barons against the Montgomery Biscuits. The teams wore vintage uniforms to pay tribute to Negro League teams. The next day was Barnstorm Birmingham (barnstorming is what teams called the practice of traveling to different cities to show off their baseball style). This particular night featured a celebrity baseball game.
On the bases, fans saw Alabama native and NFL Hall of Famer Terrell Owens, Birmingham’s own Emmy-nominated writer and comedian Roy Wood Jr., and a host of other stars. The main event on June 20 pitted the St. Louis Cardinals against the San Francisco Giants.
The life and legacy of Willie Mays were commemorated at each event. A real-life “field of dreams,” Rickwood Field is where a young Willie Mays got his start playing for the Black Barons and dreaming of one day making it to the big leagues, which shut out Black players for many years. Mays would go on to play for the New York/San Francisco Giants and New York Mets. Breaking records and race barriers along the way, Mays was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1979, and many consider him the greatest baseball player of all time.
Plan Your Visit
Rickwood Field is open for guided and self-guided tours. Admire the Spanish Mission influences of the main entranceway. See the Rickwood legacy brick memorial and the six original ticket booths. See the board where the lineups are still written in chalk. Visit the ballpark’s museum highlighting the teams and players who’ve graced the field through the years. Gaze at a field where legends were forged beneath the Alabama sun.
A baseball-themed trip to Birmingham shouldn’t stop at Rickwood Field. Catch the Birmingham Barons in action at Regions Field.
And the Negro Southern League Museum is a must-see for baseball fans and those with a passion for American history.
Operated by the City of Birmingham, the Negro Southern League Museum boasts about 8,000 square feet of exhibit space and one of the largest collections of Negro League baseball artifacts in the country. The exhibits pay tribute to legends of Negro League baseball, salute players from Birmingham who made it to the major leagues, and showcase modern-day players with ties to Birmingham, like Bo Jackson and Michael Jordan — who both played for the Birmingham Barons.
Head to rickwood.com to plan your visit today.
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